The Democratic party had an opportunity to get a middle class tax cuts and Democratic senators and conservative blue dog DEMS refused to take a vote.
The Party got wiped out in the 2010 elections.
Now we come back and we have a host of issues that must be resolved in the lame duck session and a newly energized Republican party that has earned a majority in the house come the new year; so they're willing to filibuster everything and wait for their time in the sun come 2011.
What do Democrats do? They start to fuck it up all over again.
(1) TAXES
No one cares about the rich getting tax breaks. We all know the pathology in this country; it's very simple. Everyone thinks they might get rich; they don't give a fuck if the rich get unicorns. They want to get a pony once in a while or be mentioned. So, their taxes going up. They will notice. Who will get blamed? DEMOCRATS.
So all those folks saying let the tax cuts expire; what do you do in 2011 when the Republicans bring up a tax plan that glances at the middle class and is more odious than the one we're facing now? Why would you give them this cudgel to use?
The middle class tax cuts need to happen before the new year and since Congressional Democrats dropped the ball; we need to win back enough seats to get this done in 2012. That means campaigning on the issue.
(2) START
This is a national security issue. We need to be able to monitor these nukes. More importantly, we need to be able to show the world we can get our shit together and that the President does speak for the country. This treaty isn't a side item, it's very important to this country and the administration.
(3) DADT/DREAM
I don't know how this is going to get done; but until the tax issues clear we won't have the opportunity for a simple reason. The senate is being held hostage by the Republican party and no one in the media or the country gives a fuck. In point of fact, its this strategy that helped Republicans win the election. The senate really helped deliver the house to Republicans.
Charlie Cook has a great piece discussing how the Democrats are deluding themselves.
One of the mistakes that Democrats seem to have repeatedly made is to poll specific issue questions, get their desired results, but then have their interpretation of the data lack context.
I think I could start a bonfire if I had kept all the poll memos from Democratic pollsters over the last two years. First arguing that climate change would be a winning issue, and then health care reform, they now think they can score points by drawing a line and extending the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts for everyone except the top income brackets. What seems to escape many of them is that they haven’t won a message fight in two years on anything.
The public certainly hasn’t forgiven Republicans for their mistakes over the last decade. But the loss of confidence in Democrats has been more immediate and more relevant than Republican miscues when they had both the White House and majorities in Congress. There were plenty of things that voters held against the GOP, including scandals, the decision to invade Iraq, the case of Terri Schiavo, and the doubling of the national debt. None of these were forgiven but they were all less relevant.
Americans see Democrats as having failed in their stewardship of the economy. A recession grew worse, unemployment soared, and Democrats seem to have checked the box and moved on to issues nearer and dearer to their hearts.
For some reason, climate change legislation and health care seemed to be more important than sticking to a focus on the economy through 2009 and into 2010. It might be a while before voters forgive the president and the remaining Democrats in Congress for that.
People don't believe the rich should get these taxes; ask them if the only way they get their tax cut is if the rich get theirs they'll say FINE gives us our tax cut. That any democrat would not see this instinctively is crazy, but it makes the last two years a hell of a lot clearer.
Democrats clearly need to show the country they are on their side and are looking to get a deal for them and that is what the President is doing and in doing it he's not triangulating; he honestly doesn't believe taxes going up for the middle class is in any way an acceptable outcome so he's going to do a deal. That other DEMS won't stand with him makes the party look bad, frankly.
The next opportunity the President will have to make a stand is his budget; and that's the next fight on the horizon after the debit ceiling. The State of the Union this year is going to be interesting to watch. But today set the theme for the White House; the middle class is their focus and the economy their only issue the next two years.
They're going to say their ideal as they did in the tax cut and then do a deal and run against the Republican party and on their achievements; the party can come along or not. Primary him, fine. But that is the road the President's chosen and given everything, IMO it's the best he can do.